A Travel Through War
by SnowyWolff
Summary: A war between youkai, creatures with both animal-like and human-like attributes, and humans is raging. Tsurugi Kyousuke is a human knight, serving under the banner of Raimon, who has a fierce hatred for the youkai. He is willing to risk his very life to bring an end to the creatures, but due to a certain mishap he finds himself in the hands of two of them instead.
1. Humans

**A Travel Through War | Chapter 1 | Humans**

雪

A teenager with navy-coloured hair, seated upon a horse, was looking around the battlefield from atop a hill. His eyes narrowed at the sight of his brothers in arms getting wounded or killed by the creatures. He did not want to give those a name, they did not deserve one, not after what they had done to his brother.

"Tsurugi," a voice called out.

Tsurugi Kyousuke turned his head slightly to the left, still keeping an eye on the battlefield. He inclined his head a bit when he recognised the source of the voice being his leader and tactician – Shindou Takuto, Duke of Raimon – and his guard, Kirino Ranmaru.

"Yes, Your Grace," Tsurugi said, implying for the brunet to continue.

"We will leave, for now," Shindou said, frowning. "I do not like the idea of giving this land to those youkai either, but I fear lots of lives will be lost if we will keep on fighting like this," he added when Tsurugi's face contorted in a scowl.

Tsurugi huffed as he turned to look at the field once more, sighing once he saw that it was, indeed, a lost battle.

"Very well, Your Grace. Shall I make the preparations?" asked Tsurugi, facing Shindou again.

"If you please." Shindou nodded for Tsurugi to get on with it.

Tsurugi cast one more look on the battlefield before turning his horse the other way and giving it the spurs.

"Your Grace, you need to leave then, too," Kirino said, giving his duke a long look.

"No, not until my men have left," Shindou stated firmly.

Kirino heaved a sigh as he shook his head. "Shindou…"

"I can't leave them," Shindou said, his voice quiet.

"I understand, Your Grace." Kirino flashed him a small smile which Shindou returned shortly.

雪

His horse bristled, and Tsurugi silenced it by placing his hand on the horse's nose. Silence was of importance would this plan succeed.

Giving the horse one last glance to make sure it didn't have anything anymore that could relate it to him or his army, Tsurugi made his way through the forest, unusually silent for this time of day. He knew youkai were walking – _sneaking _– around in here as well, so he had to be wary with every step he took, every rustle of leaves, every snap of wood that was heard.

He froze the moment something snapped, a sound louder than any _normal_ animal stepping on a branch, mainly because it sounded from _above_ him. Warily, he glanced upward, trying to see through the thick leaves.

雪

Tenma held his breath as the human beneath him seemed to freeze. The blue-haired person was glancing upward, his orange eyes wary as he tried to find whatever had made the sound.

Tenma had, but he couldn't help it. Some human had thrown a spear at him as he had accidentally flown over a battlefield and it had scratched his wing. He had just made it towards the forest when his wing started to really hurt and he had had to land. But he didn't have the balance anymore to land properly and had thus made too much noise and now there was a human (who didn't look that nice to begin with) apparently searching for said noise.

Tenma had shuffled all the way against the tree trunk, clinging on to it as to not fall and possibly get killed by the human. He still didn't dare breathe as the human stopped looking upward and stretched before continuing its way through the forest.

Only when he was sure the human was out of hearing distance he dared take a deep breath to fill his lungs with some oxygen again, blinking at the pain returning as it had somehow numbed during those crucial seconds.

He allowed a small groan to leave his lips as he slipped out of the tree and landed on the ground, pain shooting through his legs now too as he had no way to soften his fall.

He really needed to get to his home, but if a human was walking through this forest it might mean that there were more and the way to his home would be a lot more difficult than usual.

Tenma shook his head to clear the anxiety away and slowly made his way to his house, ears sharp on sounds.

He let out a sigh of relief as his house came into view, but muffled a squeal when the human reappeared, quickly stepping back into the shadows.

雪

Tsurugi cursed inwardly, not knowing whether he had been mistaken or the thing was simply waiting its chance, but he couldn't waste any more time so he pressed on.

He walked for a while, alert for if something really would attack him, but it seemed not.

He stretched himself out again when he reached a clearing between the thick foliage, a wooden house standing shyly in the middle of it, walls overgrown with green.

Frowning, he made his way around it, scrutinizing every detail of the modest house. When he reached the front door again, he stopped and weighted his possibilities. That was, until a muffled sound made him swivel around, glaring into the darkness between the trees.

There was most definitely something there, he could not mistake such an obvious sound.

"Show yourself!" he demanded, eyes searching, hand on the hilt of his sword.

雪

Tenma nearly fell over a tree root as the human called out. It was that someone caught him before he hit the ground.

Tenma slowly opened his eyes to be met with the slightly amused face of Saryuu Evan, but it was quickly replaced by a questioning one.

Tenma's eyes flashed towards where his house was hidden back to Saryuu, whose eyes slowly moved to there.

His face contorted into a scowl and he nearly dropped Tenma as he smelled the human. Tenma quickly went to stand on his own feet again.

"I'll give him the scare of his life," the monkey youkai muttered darkly.

"No!" Tenma muttered back, placing his hands on Saryuu's shoulders.

"Why not?" Saryuu gave him a piercing glance.

"I don't want to see any more blood than I have today! There already is a huge battle going on outside these forests, let's not also make it a big fight _inside_ these forests as well!" Tenma whispered, "I just want my wing tended and just… drink some tea. Please, Saryuu." Tenma shot him an almost pleading look.

Saryuu glared at Tenma, then at the trees that hid the little wooden house, then back at Tenma before his shoulders finally sagged and he heaved a sigh.

雪

Tsurugi hissed. He wanted to go into the bushes to find out who or what had made that sound, but he needed to be pressing on. If he didn't – He suppressed a shudder.

He gave one last look to the bushes then towards the small house, sighed, and quickened his pace to get to the edge of the woods to secure an escape route for the knights to take.

When the forest became thinner he slowed down again, glancing warily around for any movements, but it seemed not.

The plains he reached were deserted, the green grass seemed to wave slightly in the wind that had free reign.

Tsurugi's eyes flicked across the field, taking in the hills, edges of forests and, if he stood on his toes, the blue sea that would be their escape route.

He shot one last look over his shoulders into the woods before he quickly dashed across the hills, his armour rattling with every step he took. He allowed a small smile to grace his features as he got closer to the vast blueness, smelling the salt.

Once he got atop of the hill that looked upon the sea he stopped, taking in the situation from there. He could see the capital city of the region Kaiou that laid at the shores, and even from where he stood he could see them busy with what looked like bringing in the haul of that day. There were small boats everywhere and – sighing of relief – saw the huge ship that was of the duke of Kaiou, Namikawa Rensuke, as was the entire city for that matter. He had almost thought that the ship had been taken down by the flying youkai – _the tengu, _he grudgingly thought – but the ship seemed to only have taken a few scratches from what he could see here.

Now there was one last problem left. How to get the army from the battlefield at the other side of the forest, through it, over the hills here, and onto the ship without those youkai following.

He slid down the hill and walked towards the city, pondering for a solution for the most vital part of this operation.

雪

Just as he had seen, it was a big commotion in the city; men, women and children were walking everywhere, helping in whatever way possible.

"Sir knight?"

Tsurugi blinked and stopped, turning to where the voice was and having to look down for to find the source. It was a small child, that looked both reserved and curious.

"Yes?" He knelt down so he could look the boy in the eye.

The boy fidgeted a little before finally stating, "I want to be a knight too when I'm older! I want to serve for our duke! A-and our king!" he added quickly, eyes shining brightly.

Tsurugi smiled mildly, inwardly hoping the child would reconsider once the defeated army would strode through here. "There's a good lad," he said, patting the child on the head.

The child basically shone with admiration as Tsurugi got up again, nodded to the boy and made his way to the docks, needing to find a way to contact the ship.

It wasn't as hard as he had thought it would be for the first mate was on the docks, talking to what appeared to be the harbourmaster.

The harbourmaster, Fukami Dandou, was a bulky man with long, messy brown hair. His black eyes might be small, but the man oversaw every little thing that happened in his harbour (which would not always include fair business. There were plenty of stories going around that the Duke of Kaiou didn't mind piracy all that much and even encouraged his crew to act like pirates).

The tall first mate, Wanda Naoto, had dreadlocks for hair which was turquoise of colour and reached his chest. His black eyes stood out from his fair skin and were looking almost haughtily at the harbourmaster.

Tsurugi stepped up to the two, making his presence know with a little cough.

Wanda examined him from tip to toe and back up before saying, "You must be the knight from Raimon that Duke Shindou would send once his army would be retreating, right?"

"Yes," said Tsurugi almost reluctantly, feeling both men their almost mocking glances on him.

"Then we'll make the ship ready. How many of your army will be here?" Wanda said, a mocking smile playing at his lips.

Tsurugi shot him a foul glare. "Just prepare the ship," he said coldly, "I haven't counted the knights yet."

Both the harbourmaster and first mate laughed.

"Very well," Wanda said, still chuckling. "Fukami." He nodded to the harbourmaster as a goodbye and shot one last bemused look to Tsurugi before stepping towards the dinghy where some of the crewmembers of the ship were swarming around.

"I'll make sure the way will be clear once the army arrives," the harbourmaster then said, giving Tsurugi a look.

Tsurugi nodded in acknowledgement and turned on his heels, quickly making his way out of the city again.

雪

Tsurugi stepped out on the bloodied battlefield, unsheathing his sword and slashing down a youkai that jumped towards him, claws ready to rip him to pieces.

He had made his way back through the forest, somehow missing the little house this time, and had told Shindou everything was ready, a plan in his mind to get everyone away.

Shindou would give the sign to retreat and Tsurugi would step onto the battlefield, catching the youkai their attention.

And their attention he got.

The creatures' eyes gleamed as a new prey stepped onto the field, a new toy for them to play with.

He would give them something to play with, all right.

雪

**Yeah, so... I'm trying to pick up writing again? And this is what came out, somewhat inspired by Tallemy's fics.**

**And I don't know, there won't be much romance...**

**That's all, I suppose.**

**Laters!**


	2. Youkai

**A Travel Through War | Chapter 2 | Youkai**

雪

Tsurugi's eyes snapped open as a fierce pain shot practically through his entire body. His vision was blurred as well and he had to blink a couple of time to make out the shapes of a wooden roof.

Wait… a wooden roof? Had he then not died? Or did Heaven have a wooden roof? He wanted to move his arm, found it too painful, and continued on with his thoughts.

Did you hurt when one died and entered Heaven? Or had he really not died back then, when the youkai had driven him into a corner? Had his fate been changed?

A sudden gasp brought him out of his thoughts.

"You're awake!" came an exclamation.

It bothered him that even his head pounded and turning it would seem like a lot of work.

"Does it hurt?" the voice asked. It was a kind voice.

Tsurugi wanted to sneer, but someone did it for him.

"No, he looks absolutely fine after being almost torn to shreds by youkai, Tenma," another, much harsher voice said, the sarcasm dripping off the words.

The other voice, the one named Tenma, did not respond.

"Why did you have to go and save him anyway?" the harsh voice continued. "You were already wounded, and the chances of him fully recovering were and still are slim. So why?"

"Because he was still alive when they left him!" Tenma exclaimed.

"So?" the harsh voice sneered again. "You could have just let him be."

"Saryuu!"

"What?"

Tsurugi was getting pissed, to say the least. These people were talking – no – arguing about him – about his life – like he wasn't there. And to add up to that he had no idea what they looked like. For all he knew, they could leave him to rot. The harsh voice, Saryuu, seemed to be capable of leaving people to die, why would he then not hesitate to kill him.

Tsurugi knew very well he had to get away, the problem was that his body wasn't complying.

"Ah! You shouldn't move!" Tenma exclaimed again.

Damn.

Tsurugi glared at the ceiling as he heard a snort, probably from the one named Saryuu, ceasing his futile attempts on moving without paining himself. He quickly found something else to glare at. Namely, a face came into his view.

The person had brown hair that looked like the wind had really swept through it and grey eyes that blinked curiously at him. There was something off of him, though, but he couldn't place his finger on it.

"Are you hungry or thirsty?" the boy asked. He was the owner of the nice voice, so that would make his name Tenma.

Tsurugi simply glared at him.

"Maybe the youkai ate his tongue," Saryuu said, laughing shortly.

"That's not funny, Saryuu!" Tenma said, turning his head to look disapprovingly at the other.

"Whatever you say." Tsurugi could swear that Saryuu was shrugging.

Tenma heaved a sigh before looking at him once more. "I'm Matsukaze Tenma. I found you near the edge of the forest while looking for herbs," Tenma said.

Tsurugi was still very much tempted to keep his mouth shut, but there was something strange about Tenma and he wanted to come to the bottom of it.

"My name's Tsurugi Kyousuke," he grumbled.

"Oh so he _does_ talk," came Saryuu's voice.

"Saryuu!" Tenma pouted as he looked at the other once more. At least, Tsurugi assumed he was.

"Uh, he's Saryuu Evan," Tenma then added.

"Why are you telling him that?" Saryuu Evan questioned.

"It's polite."

Saryuu grumbled something, but didn't comment on anything further.

"So Tsurugi it is then?" Tenma asked, smiling slightly.

"Yes."

"Ah, you've been asleep for two weeks, you know," Tenma then stated casually.

"What?" Tsurugi stared at him.

"Mm, yes! I was worried you weren't going to wake up, but thank goodness! You really must be hungry though! It was difficult enough to get you to drink, and I have only been able to feed you fruit for it's easy to mash. Although…" Tenma trailed off, looking slightly embarrassed. "I still only have fruit for you… I don't like hunting that much."

"I don't mind," Tsurugi said, adding another point to the weirdness that hung around Tenma.

"Uhm, Saryuu?" Tenma then asked, turning once more to the other.

"What?"

"Could you pick some fruit? Non-poisonous ones, please," he added quickly.

Saryuu growled. "Why should I?"

"Please, Saryuu. I would really appreciate it!" Tenma beamed a smile at the other.

Saryuu grumbled and, with a slam of the door, was gone.

Tenma sighed again before nodding and turning towards Tsurugi. "Shall I help you sit up? Eating'll be easier then."

"Fine." Tsurugi grudgingly admitted that sitting up by himself proofed too difficult and even with Tenma's help it still hurt a lot.

When he finally sat, his back resting against a pillow against the wall, he had closed his eyes and willed the pain away.

"You okay?" Tenma asked, sounding worried.

"Mm," he hummed, keeping his eyes closed for a moment longer. He took a deep breath and then opened them again, looking at Tenma's face once more, though now, he could actually see the whole boy.

Tsurugi's eyes widened before looking around almost frantically for his sword. Tenma obviously noticed, _his wings_ twitching as he stepped forward in worry.

"Stay away!" Tsurugi hissed, glaring. Tenma stared at him, freezing in his spot. "Where did you put my sword?" Tsurugi glared at the tengu.

"I-in the corner," Tenma said carefully, pointing to the far-off corner.

Tsurugi growled, throwing off his blanket.

"No, you shouldn't move!" Tenma exclaimed, taking a step forwards before stopping again, swallowing hard as he received Tsurugi's death glare. "You really shouldn't, though," Tenma said quietly, looking in worry as Tsurugi struggled to even lift an arm.

"Shut up. I don't take orders from a _tengu_," Tsurugi spat, glaring at Tenma with such fierceness that Tenma did another step back.

"W-what?" Tenma blinked while Tsurugi was hissing and cursing at his injuries.

"Tch." Tsurugi concluded that nothing was working his way. His army's loss, the near loss of his own life, and being taken care of by the thing he despised most. "Return me my sword!" he then demanded, glaring once more at Tenma.

Tenma stood frozen, confused by the sudden change in behaviour. But then again, this was the same human who had been sneaking through the woods, demanding that Tenma would show himself after only making a small sound. His wing still throbbed even though the wound had long healed after these two weeks, and it didn't quite help that the human, even in his barely functioning body, still seemed to want to strike him down.

"Oi," Tsurugi said, breaking Tenma's train of thought, "I told you to return me my sword." The teenager's voice was a deadly cold, making Tenma worry all the more of his safety. Maybe he shouldn't have let Saryuu go out…

No. He couldn't always rely on Saryuu, he didn't even know the monkey youkai for all that long. So now what should he do? Obviously not give Tsurugi the sword, but he should figure out why the boy was suddenly so antagonistic after seeing… his… appearance… Could it be that Tsurugi was bothered by his looks? Because of his wings?

Tenma blinked when he heard a growl and then without another warning Tsurugi made another try to move, this time he succeeded in nearly ending up on the ground if it wasn't for Tenma stepping in just in time and catching him.

Tenma blinked as he held the teenager's shoulders, swallowing as it slowly dawned on Tsurugi what situation his was in now.

"You-" Tenma started, "You really shouldn't move."

"And then just wait here before you or that other one can kill me? I bet he's a youkai too," Tsurugi hissed, spitting out the words like venom.

"Well, yes… he's a monke-"

"I don't care what he is," Tsurugi cut him off, glaring harshly, "just let go of me."

"You'll fall on the ground then," Tenma pointed out.

"I don't care; everywhere is better than being held by a _tengu_."

Tenma was surprised by how much venom this person could put in one word. He heaved a sigh and, ignoring the human's sputtering, placed Tsurugi back in the bed. "We won't kill you," Tenma said, trying (in vain) to reassure him somewhat. "Well, at least I won't for sure, and Saryuu won't do anything if he knows I will be terribly bothered by it.

Tsurugi scoffed. "You'll be terribly bothered by my death?" he questioned, pulling the blanket back over, somewhat admitting his defeat.

"Yes," Tenma nodded, sighing in relief at Tsurugi's apparent surrender, "I don't like killing at all. Most tengu do actually. A lot of youkai as well."

"Well a lot of youkai also like to kill," Tsurugi huffed.

"That's true," Tenma admitted. "But isn't it the same for humans? Some want to kill and others not."

Tsurugi was quiet for a while, looking thoughtfully at the wall. "I suppose so…" he said reluctantly.

"Some kill for the fun of it and others for a reason," Tenma continued, watching Tsurugi closely. "Saryuu did both actually, though not anymore now. Or at least, I don't know of it, but if it's in this forest I'll find out eventually."

"He killed for fun and for a reason?" Tsurugi wasn't surprised that the monkey youkai used to kill for fun, but what reason could he possibly have?

"You're wondering for what reason he killed, aren't you?" Tenma smiled when Tsurugi huffed and looked away. "He used to be some big shot youkai on the mountain nearby, but the god of the sun threw him off for his constant killing of anyone who dared to come close to his part of the mountain. Saryuu is incredibly competitive, you see, and would test out anyone that entered his territory, whether they wanted or not."

"That's his reason for killing?" Tsurugi asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow at the tengu.

Tenma laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "It might sound really stupid, but yes, that is his reason."

"No wonder he got thrown off the mountain," Tsurugi muttered, looking at the wall opposing him.

Tenma chuckled and looked away. "Actually that has another reason, but it is somewhat related to that, yes."

"Why would you take a murdering monkey into your house?" Tsurugi asked then, looking back at Tenma.

"Uhm…" Tenma thought it over for a moment. "I think it was because he was hurt really badly and I couldn't just let him die there. I was also getting kinda lonely," Tenma admitted.

Tsurugi looked at him with an expression close to disbelief. "You just take whatever lies half dead on the ground into your house, don't you?" he then said, looking away from Tenma with a haughty tilt of his head.

Tenma laughed sheepishly again. "I suppose that that's true."

"You suppose?" the harsh voice from Saryuu rang out and a second later he stepped into the house, giving Tenma a look. "You have had about every animal you can find here in your house, healing it up and setting it free again. You take _everything_ that looks like it won't survive without your aid into your house, no matter the consequences it might have."

"Well that's not tr-" Tenma protested.

"Remember that snake?" Saryuu cut in sharply, actually making Tenma flinch.

"That… I didn't know it belonged to Kurama…" Tenma said, looking off to the side while rubbing his arm.

"See," Saryuu said, dumping a basket on the table and taking out an apple himself. He took a bite of it as he sat down on a chair, placing his feet onto the table.

"Don't put your feet on the table," Tenma scolded, getting to his feet and walking over. Saryuu rolled his eyes, but obliged. "Ne, Tsurugi, what would you like? We got apples and… apples and, surprisingly, more apples. Saryuu did you even try finding anything?" Tenma had placed some of the contents of the basket on the table, giving up once he noticed all there was in the basket were apples. He turned to the monkey youkai, who pointedly looked in the other direction.

"What? I got fruit, right? You never said that it should be varied. Just that it shouldn't be poisonous," Saryuu argued, sniffing.

Tenma sighed and looked helplessly at the white-haired youkai before turning to Tsurugi again. "Do you-?"

Tsurugi simply held out a hand, looking in the other direction. "Just give one."

Tenma sighed again and handed the teenager the fruit, looking worriedly as he spotted Saryuu glaring at Tsurugi from the corner of his eye.

This would be very tiresome if it would go on like this.

雪

**Yeah, so nothing much happens here. There'll probably be some plot next chapter, or so I hope.**

**I hope I won't always take a month or so to update, but, you know, college likes to butt in and throw thinks off of your desk.**

**Laters!**


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